A/N: Things are going to be very confrontational this chapter. It's a cliffie but I've already completed the next several chapters so I won't be long in posting.

Reparata

A/N: Please note that these events take place more than two (2) months after those of previous chapters.

Chapter 6

Princeton University
School of Applied Sciences

Leonard was on the phone with his mother, wondering for the billionth time why she even bothered calling him and more so, why he couldn't just blow her off and let it go to voice mail.

"… you should have considered those consequences before being unfaithful to her with your little Indian Princess. How is Purim, by the way?"

"It's Priya! My God, mother, you have 2 PhDs and a bundle of publications and you still can't remember her name?" He was getting more and more angry with her. Hell, it was just a family dinner and even his father, divorced and finally happy with one of his many graduate students, was going to be there.

"I don't care what her name is, that woman is forbidden in my house. Penny will be there, as she should, and I won't have her further hurt by you. Your father agrees with me, by the way, so an appeal to your philandering sperm donor will not have much of a reception."

"Why is Penny going to be there? She's divorcing me and she's hardly your favorite person anyhow. She's so 'inadequate' if I remember your quote."

"I've spent time with her. I like her. She's a breath of fresh air and what you never realized is that she is simply uneducated, not incapable of higher cognitive functions. She's a better person than you deserve, Leonard. Now, I'll see you on Saturday - alone."

Leonard slammed down his office phone, cutting off his mother, not wanting to hear another word about his soon ex-wife. Instead, he took out his cell phone and hit speed dial.

"Hi, baby, it's me. I'll pick you up at the train station Friday night. Bring something dressy. My mother's having a dinner party and would love for you to come."

Priya laughed and said, "Really? Well, of course we should go. I'm anxious to meet the woman who made you the man you are, Jaan."

"Good. I'll see you Friday." He was too self-absorbed to recognize the double entendre of his paramour's statement.

Dr. Juliana Parea's Apartment
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Jules was finally finished packing her personal gear. Something nagged at her and finally she went to her bureau and dug out something lacey and frilly.

'If this doesn't get a rise out of him nothing will.'

She'd been pleasantly surprised at Sheldon's naïveté regarding sex. She had a feeling that she'd been his first, but wisely didn't press the issue and was certainly glad she hadn't. He seemed to have a mental questionnaire and asked her the most entertaining questions.

Their first coupling hadn't been mind-blowing but given his propensity for perfection, that soon changed and Jules had no complaints whatsoever with Shel's subsequent performances and she had been the one left breathless on more than one occasion as he perfected this particular skill set.

Like most things, he approached sex as a problem to be solved, a riddle to be unraveled, and unravel her he had on several occasions.

It just wasn't the sex. It was that when they were together he focused on her, and that was so different from the other men who'd been in her life. While she hated 'comparisons', she couldn't avoid making them.

He surpassed anyone else she'd ever been involved with. His wry sense of humor delighted her once she learned to recognize it. Sheldon was attentive but not above clingy or smothering and at first that put her off but when she'd asked questions his answers had almost always opened up a new facet of his personality.

Quite frankly, she was head over heels in love with him.

Her cell phone rang with his unique ring tone that she'd never dared explain to him. She glanced at her watch. 'Almost to the second,' she mused.

"Hello, Shel. Yes, I'm packed and ready. The van from the airport is a few minutes late but I'll see you after you clear Customs Control."

Sheldon was traveling on an American passport and as such, had to endure 'the ransacking' of his personal belongings by 'under-trained Neanderthals' since he was a foreign national.

Ministro Pistarini International Airport
Buenos Aires

Sheldon kept glancing at his watch and then at the Customs Officer who seemed to take such delight in moving at the slowest speed possible. No matter how aggravated he looked, the man just smiled and moved like a tree sloth to his next item.

He held up an ice axe and glared at Sheldon. "This is not permitted, Professor, and must be left behind."

"Then I suppose the crampons and the climbing gear in the duffel bag is also 'not permitted'? How am I supposed to survive in the Antarctic without these items?"

"Oh, you're going on that aircraft? Why didn't you say so? You have special dispensation, Professor. Allow me to help you pack – "

"No! That's quite unnecessary. I'm sure I'll be able to repack it just as it was." He hated it when people touched his things and even the thought of allowing the man to assist him in repacking made him uncomfortable.

He rushed to the proper concourse and then to the gate. Juliana and another scientist were waiting impatiently for his arrival. He hated being late. It made him feel incompetent even though he had no control over Customs.

"Where have you been, Sheldon? They're holding the plane for us!" She stopped when she saw the look on his face and then stepped over and hugged him. He looked so uneasy that she wondered if he were a 'difficult' flier.

"I'm sorry. The Customs agent insisted on questioning every item in my luggage. I believe he thought I was a terrorist!"

"I'm sorry. You should have told him you were on a private transport and about our expedition. We have – "

"Yes, 'special dispensation'. He finally listened to my explanation but the time was already lost."

"Well, you're here and that's all that's necessary for me. It will be cold on the plane. Know anyone who might offer to keep me warm?"

Sheldon stopped dead when he saw the aircraft that was taking them to the research station.

"We're flying on that?" he exclaimed and Juliana laughed at the look on his face.

"You were expecting a 747 and first class, my love?"

She grabbed his hand and led him up the cargo ramp into the Argentine Air Force cargo plane. Except for stowing his luggage and equipment that required both hands, his hand never left hers until they were airborne.

It was a long and cold flight and Sheldon dozed on and off, running his fingertips through her hair while she slept with her head in his lap, stretched out over the canvas seating. It was a long flight to the tip of the continent where they'd remain overnight while the aircraft was prepped for its flight to the research station.

Home of Dr. Beverly Hofstadter
Princeton, NJ

Leonard and Priya arrived 'fashionably late' by design. Leonard knew that his mother would move heaven and earth to avoid a 'scene' at one of her social functions.

"Well, who have we here?" Beverly said, forcing a social smile on her face when she opened the door and saw her son and his whatever standing there.

"Mother, this is Priya Koothrappali. Priya, this is my mother, Beverly." His smarmy smile that shielded his gloating look fooled no one and it took ever ounce of her training not to slam the door and return to her invited guests.

"Welcome to my home. Leonard, you should have told me you were bringing a guest! I'll have the maid set another place setting while you introduce Ms. Koothrappali to my guests."

Frost dripped off her words and she saw the surprise on the young Indian woman's face and felt a moment of pity for her. Obviously her son hadn't told her that Beverly refused to extend the invitation to his whatever.

Beverly turned on her heel and charged off to instruct the maid to set up another place setting as far from Penny as possible. She wanted more than anything to set up a small table out on the patio and seat them there but she felt herself above such things.

Only because it was raining.

Penny was to be seated beside Beverly and across from her ex-husband and his new bride, Jislane. She felt it would make conversation easier since Penny was only a few years older than the poor girl who had paled when introduced to Beverly, and nearly fainted when Beverly recounted how close to failing Jislane had been when she took her undergraduate classes from Beverly.

Her eight guests were all 'family' insofar as Beverly was concerned. The ninth was a mere interloper and would have to fend for herself amongst the sharks.

Penny was sipping at her drink, careful not to overindulge and do anything that might embarrass her friend, Beverly. Despite the circumstances and their difference in ages, they had become friends and Penny cherished her new relationship.

Leonard's father's new wife, Jislane, was as terrified of Beverly as she'd once been and Penny could clearly relate to it.

"She was my professor for some undergraduate courses, Penny, and she scared the shit and knowledge right out of me. I couldn't talk in class, I couldn't remember my material; it was awful!"

Penny laughed and put her hand on the young woman's arm to create a tiny bubble of confidentiality. "Tell me about it. She scheduled 'Tuesday luncheons' and I always threw up before I left home!"

"But you two seem so close…" Jislane said, her voice trailing off.

"Well, Jis – no offense, but I was going through what she had with Leonard's dad except I caught his cheatin' ass way before I had three kids."

"He won't cheat on me, Penny. He promised me that I was all he ever wanted or needed in a woman."

Penny was going to say something consoling to Jislane since her thoughts were 'like father, like son' but she caught sight of Leonard walking in to the large living room with Priya Koothrappali on his arm and that 'shit eating' grin on his face that he used to have when they were together.

The grin that told everyone who saw it 'Look what I've got!'

Jislane saw Penny turn pale and then turn red with anger and she turned to see what had prompted such a reaction in her new friend.

"Who's that?" There was a certain tone of dislike that Penny picked up on and that made her smile.

"C'mon, Jislane. Let's go meet your philandering, cheating, lying, no-good stepson, The Hobbit. Feel like playing the evil Step-mom?"

Penny watched as a sly and evil grin grew on Jislane's face. "Oh, Penny, you have no idea just how evil I can be. That little shitass hit on me in the Kroger a few weeks ago. Lead on, almost ex-step-daughter-in-law. Paybacks are a motherfucker!"

Penny couldn't control the loud laughter that burst from her lips and she quickly took a sip of her drink to cover it. She and Jislane were going to be friends despite all the emotional crap they waded through.

Beverly had been schmoozing with her son and his 2nd wife but had been keeping an eye on Penny and 'the Child Bride' as she mentally referred to Jislane. She heard Penny's loud laughter and turned to see the source and almost laughed herself.

'This should prove quite entertaining and a interesting topic for a monograph on social interactions in awkward social situations.'

He knew that laugh. He loved that laugh, or used to, until the source began acting like his mother.

Priya was startled to hear a burst of familiar laughter. 'Not only wasn't I invited, but she was. I wonder how Leonard is going to handle this and more importantly, how is he going to blame someone else for this.'

85km from Permanent Station Belgrano II

The treaded snow cat was out of fuel and Sheldon checked the transponder once again before setting out on foot for the Argentine Permanent Station. He was warmly dressed and had sufficient food and heat tabs and an all-weather arctic survival tent in his pack. The transponder that showed him 'the way home' with its analogue pointer and flashing light that would alert him if he strayed more than 5 degrees off course for more than 100 meters was fully functional.

More importantly, he had computer discs full of data that he felt sure would prove the existence of the monopole and end his quest for the Nobel. He happily strapped on his crampons and hefted his ice ax and set out on his trek to Belgrano II and Juliana.

He had no idea that once again someone had sabotaged his efforts.

The transponder he was using was homed towards Sobral Meteorological Station, 60km away. The Sobral Station was only manned during the Antarctic summer months.

He was walking to his doom because of another's jealousy over the love of a woman – Juliana Parea – Sheldon Cooper's future bride.